Reviews for 05/14/09

Phoenix Graphic Novel Examiner

Hey what up everyone. I recently got hired by Examiner.com to write comic related reviews for their Phoenix section! That's pretty cool stuff. I already have my first article up. You can check it out here. Make sure to subscribe. If anyone has any points of interest that you think I should write about, let me know.

Weekend Highlights

Hi everybody! Hi Dr. Nick! I have a lot to talk about this day. I saw two genre related films this past weekend. One of them is the obvious choice, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The other one......
That's right, I went to see Dragonball: Evolution. To be fair, I went to this movie with the intention of making fun of it, sort of the way my friends and I will watch Batman and Robin on occassion. Here's the thing, people (and when I say people I mean fanboys) complain that the genre properties that they love get ruined by Hollywood, that they drift away from the source material. I agree to a certain extent, but I am also open minded enough to realize Hollywood is going to do what Hollywood is going to do. Some examples: Gwen Stacey should not have been in the thrid Spider-Man movie. She should've been in the first and killed off. Since we got Mary Jane in the first one, they should have never used Gwen at all. One the other side of the coin, you have the Batman movies and realistically Batman would wear body armor not spandex. So it's a little give and take. However, when they do keep the movie faithful to the material it does not translate well to film and you get movies like Dragonball.

They were obviously trying to make a live action anime and I give them kudos for that, but what is acceptable or even second nature in an anime does not work here. The silly talk and expressions that we see on the show just look ridiculous here. I will say that the acting and story were better than in the Street Fighter movie.



Next up is X-Men Origins: Wolverine starring Hugh Jackman as everyone's favorite mutant. This being Jackman's fourth adventure as Wolverine, I have to say that he definitly knows how to play him. I've thought that from the very beginning; the man LOOKS like Wolverine. Okay I just have to get this out of the way. X-Men order: X2, Wolverine, X3, X1. There, I said it. You're more than welcome to debate me on it, but that is how I see it and it is final.

The movie itself was very entertaining. From what I know about Deadpool, which is limited to wikipedia and guest apperances, Ryan Reynolds played him perfectly. The scene where he was deflecting all the bullets was awesome. The problem with Wolverine is that it felt like we had already been here with the other X-Movies. Anyone who says they weren't about Wolverine is a liar. Look at the DVD covers. Who's in the lead? Huh? HUH? That's what I thought. Also, the ending left a lot to be desired. I understand that this a prequel of sorts, but they could have at least finished the story. FYI: make sure to stay through the end of the credits. Very cool. It had its flaws but the movie overall was enjoyable and therefore it did its job. On Netflix you'd see this rated as a 4. That's because they don't let you rate in half stars on Netflix.



I'm going to talk about a couple of comics now. Usually, I do a vlog for my reviews but these are special issues. The first up is Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #4. Final Crisis? Didn't that end a few months ago? Why, yes it did young padawan. However, I can tell you that THIS should've been the Final Crisis and NOT that "world shattering" mini-series we were subjected to. I can't really talk about this issue without really spoiling it. The guy posting comments on my youtube page didn't share the same concerns. I will tell you this; this issue is the single greatest comic that I have read this year. It is brilliant. Geoff Johns' writing is superb, George Perez on the art is always fantastic, and one of the coolest ******s I have ever seen. The ending was a twist that I didn't see coming either and I have no idea how the heroes are going to get out of this one. Great stuff!

In case you missed it, last Saturday was Free Comic Book Day (FCBD). The issue that I picked up was Blackest Night #0. This was the prelude or sneak peak in to Blackest Night, the big summer event happening at DC. It sets the forthcoming min-series up perfectly, especially for new readers. We are also given back ground infomation on all of the different colored corps. Ususally, you'd have to pick up a Secret Files to get all this info and those run about 4 bucks. This was free. Thank you FCBD! The highlight of the day was that Geoff Johns (Green Lantern) and Sterling Gates (Supergirl) were at the store that I visited. I got them to sign a few books and I shook Gates hand for resurrecting the Supergirl book.

Finally, I've only picked up one figure since last time and it's Wonder Woman from the DC Universe Classics line. She has an axe. If only she didn't have that axe, I could take her.

Reviews 04-25-09

04-18-09 Reviews

So yeah...

Normally, I would have had my comic review up by now, but something about Previews not shipping on time ending up delaying my shipment by a week. So I should be getting them any day now. I'm really looking forward to Wonder Woman and any Superman books that came out in the past three weeks.

I guess I'll take the time to mention another Heroes gripe. So everyone is on the run. Nathan swoops in, saves Claire, and they head off to Mexico. So, sometime between Claire's house and Mexico they were able to stop somewhere so Claire could CHANGE HER HAIRSTYLE!!!! Yet Nathan's got a couple days growth going on and his hair is all messed up. He also has no money. Nathan, you didn't think to take any out of your bank account or a safe? Once again, the cast of Heroes is not using resources that they have. Claire can also drink herself stupid and it not effect her cause of her healing ability. Hey, that's like that one kid who lives in that small town in Kansas.

Speaking of which, Smallville pulled off a pretty decent episode this past week. Doomsday is so sick and I can't wait for the showdown. Although, Chloe is trying her hardest to fill Lana's abandoned spot of being the person that needs to shut up. The next episode looks like Lois is dabbling in a little superheroics herself. Good, cause we didn't just spend a month on that storyline already this month.

Other than that, I got a ton of new figures. I got some real gems in this batch.

It's official....

I hate Heroes. This show is a poor example of what it use to be. I've always, since the beginning, thought of this as an X-Men rip-off. It wasn't until this season that they decided to prove me right. Does anybody else remember the Captain America wannabe that they made mid-way through this season? Then they went and did the most hideous thing yet, on this week's episode they ripped a scene straight from "Superman Returns"! The writers are just taking everybody else's work and trying to claim it as their own. How in the world are they not sued by Marvel and Warner Brothers?


So, can anyone tell me what the point in keeping Daphne alive was? First, she gets shot and "dies" in Matt's arms, at least that's what everyone thought (including Matt who was there holding her when she died). Then it turns out that she's not dead but actually being held captive. Okaaaaay? So after she was shot and Matt made all the soldiers kill themselves did he just leaver her body there? They didn't bother burying her? That's the only way the government could've got her body if everyone thought she was dead. Anyway, so she's still alive and Matt saves her, BUT Daphne still has a bloodied gun shot shoulder wound! What? It's had to have a least been DAYS since she was shot and no one got her medical treatment? Sigh.

Matt saves her and rushes her to the hospital, he enters her mind via his powers and steals the Superman scene. Then she dies and it's suppose to be heartfelt, but I already shed my tears for that character earlier this season.

So tell me, what was the point? It didn't further the plot along in any way, shape, or form. And instead of dying like a hero, saving her friends, they resurrect her so she could die as Matt Parkman's love interest. I think NBC is also trying to reverse women's rights to vote.


On another note, check out these figures I got.

Reviews 03-21-09

B

This is sooooo cool...

"Lex Luthor Bailout" with Jon Hamm from Jon Hamm

Smallville and Toys

I love, love, love this show. It's Superman on TV. However, it is getting pretty hard to defend these days. Before the winter break, I was so happy with how this season was going. It hasn't been this good in years. Lana was gone, and even though Lex Luthor was as well Tess Mercer is an interesting addition to the cast. Plus, we now have Doomsday, which I was worried about at first but he hasn't disappointed me yet. Then for whatever reason we got a series of episodes with Lana in them, which set the show back years. This week's episode was suppose to the bounce back episode.

A few good things happened here. We got the return of Erica Durance. Her Lois Lane is very captivating, plus she's very nice to look at as well. I loved the use of Doomsday in this episode, and I also liked the tension between Lois and Clark towards the end of the show. Although, Clark did pull a d-bag move by standing Lois up at the cafe even though he was in full stalker mode across the street. I think it's strange that Superman stands for truth, justice, and the American way, yet Clark is constantly lying. D-bag!

So what didn't work here? The rest of the show. The return of Linda Lake, a water powered news reporter that knows Clark's secret, was something that most people weren't demanding in high volume. She threatens to reveal the truth about Clark Kent unless he helps her get back to the top of the game. Clark refuses and decides to expose himself (not that way ladies). With the help of Lois, Clark becomes an instant celebrity. Then Linda Lake tells the press that Clark killed Lex Luthor and just as instant becomes public enemy number one. When I say instant I mean instant. As soon as Linda Lake's press conference was over, the Feds show up at Clark's home. They question him and when he refuses to go with them they open fire. LOL. What?

Now all of Clark's friends are in danger, yada yada yada, Clark uses the Legion flight ring to go back in time and erase the past few days. This device is getting old fast. He has done similar things several times and they always end up making things worse. He never learns. This is our Superman folks. He now finds Linda Lake and electrocutes her so she can't use her water powers. I had never seen Clark like that and I was convinced that he killed her. Luckily I was proven wrong when a few minutes (our time) later, Davis Bloome smothered her with a pillow. Hey, I don't care if Linda Lake dies, just not by Clark's hand.

Anywho, I give his :
Only because I did like a few things in the show.

On to better things: I was able to pick up so sweet action figures from the DCU Classics line from Mattle. Some of you might be like, that's no big deal, but let me tell you that it is. The stores around here either all have the same figures or they don't have any in. This makes collecting extremely frustrating, because that leaves ebay as my only option. Even if you find a great deal for figures on ebay you still have to pay up the wazzu for shipping. So luckily I found these gems the other day and I snatched them all up.

Reviews 03-07-09

Been a while

Hey everyone. Sorry it's been a while since my last post. I've finally caught up on my reading, but I only want to talk about two things. Superman/Batman #55 and Wonder Woman, the animated movie that just came out. Okay, first up, Superman/Batman #55. This series started off as one of the coolest books on the market back when Jeph Loeb cared about his job. You have the two greatest heroes teaming up on a monthly basis, what's not to love? Storylines included the fall of Lex Luthor and the return of Kara Zor-El, Superman's cousin, to the modern day DCU. Dan Didio has recently gone on record stating that Superman/Batman in its current form is not in continuity. All I have to say is praise God! This book is awful, I mean like "I just ran out of TP and still need to wipe" awful. In the current issue, Batman and Superman have ended up switching powers due to magic.....do I need to even go on? Fine. What does a Dark Knight do with the powers of Superman? He fights crime of course, all over the world, because it is always night time somewhere in the world. What does a Man of Steel do with no powers? He gets shot and almost dies.

The powers seem to be going to Batman's head and he's going a little batty, so to speak. Alfred, anticipating that Superman wouldn't want to stop fighting crime and would probably want to take down the power-mad Batman, had a special tailor-made suit all ready to go for Clark. It's one of Batman's spare suits with a "S" symbol on it.

I...I...don't understand how this stuff gets approved. If the book is not even in continuity and the stories are not even good, what is the need for this book? It's ridiculous, a waste of money, and I just....just.....deep breath.

Let's change the subject to Wonder Woman. Oh my word. This is hands down the coolest movie ever! It is definitely the best animated superhero movie I have ever seen, and one of the best animated movies out there. Speaking of which, the animation and story are both top notch. I'd expect nothing less from Bruce Timm and Co. I have to admit, I was a little nervous about Keri Russell voicing Wonder Woman. Felicity and the Mickey Mouse Club don't exactly scream out Amazon Princess. After watching this, I now know that my worries were for nothing. Russell, along with the rest of the cast, do an amazing job of bringing life to these characters. I will say that parents should pay attention to the PG-13 rating. This is not Lynda Carter. This is not even the fan favorite Justice League Unlimited. This is Wonder Woman. There is a ton of extreme violence in this movie. It starts off with violence and goes on to the very last scene. If you are a Wonder Woman fan, then this is what you've been waiting for. If you're not a Wonder Woman fan, you will be. I sincerely hope they make a sequel to this movie.

Legion, Lana, Lost

I don't know if I was in fanboy bliss for the past week or not, but I realized that I never posted my thoughts about the latest episode of Smallville titled "Legion". The episode was written by comic book genius Geoff Johns. Usually the opposite happens, the comic companies enlist writers from Hollywood. This time Hollywood went to the source, and it works well. The Legion of Super-heroes are a group of teenage heroes from the 31st century that were inspired in to action from the many adventures of Superman. So it is only fitting that they should appear on Smallville. This marks the Legion's first live appearance, and it did not disappoint. From the accurate portrayal of the group, to the subtle references, to the little jabs that were made at the show (no tights, no flight), this was a very entertain hour of television.

For all the praise I can give this show, there is one thing that was really bothering me. Lana Lang. She walked out of Clark's and everybody else's lives at the end of last season. Due to some reason or another she is back on the show for a few episodes. I'm pretty sure this is what Mary Jane Watson-Parker asked Mephisto for at the end of One More Day, because I believe Lana to be a spawn of the devil. I have never liked this character, not on the show nor in the comics. A little history on Ms. Lang. She is the high school sweetheart of Clark Kent. Realizing that he has much to offer the world, Clark leaves Smallville, becomes Superman, saves the universe here and there, marries Lois Lane, and basically moves on with his life. Lana, however, does not. Since she can't have Clark, she marries his best friend Pete Ross. They have a child together and she names him Clark. Yeah, you see where this is going. Through wacky comic book stuff, Pete eventually becomes the President of the United States. Shortly after leaving office, the Ross's get a divorce. Lana goes on to try and sabotage Lois and Clark's marriage several times, only to fail each time. Then out of more wacky comic book logic, she somehow becomes CEO of Lexcorp, while the former CEO has been running around playing mad scientist. Anyway, Lana was terminated from her Lexcorp position for violating rule #1 "No Helping Superman". This is Lana's life, so imagine my surprise when, on the show, Saturn Girl tells Lana she's going to go on to bigger and better things. Really? Saturn Girl might be from the future but she's also a liar. She has been chasing the coattails of powerful men her whole life. Clark Kent, Pete Ross, and Lex Luthor. To say that she will do better things than Lex Luthor, okay I'll give you that one. To say she'll be better than the President of the U.S., that is kind of pushing it. To say she will do more than Superman, that is unbelievable. There is nothing she can do or will ever do that will be greater than Superman. The highlight of her life is that she was his first love. Period. She also told Saturn Girl that she would never ask Clark to kill anyone, yet she basically torn Clark a new one because he refused to kill Lex. Not to mention that she married and divorced Luthor all before she even turned 21! Is that her big contribution to society? That she's a statistic? The sooner this chick is off the show, the better.

Now on to the season premier of Lost! Yeah, yeah, yeah! I love this show. Mad props go out to the writers, who obviously do a vast amount of research on just their own continuity alone. In the two-hour premier there were segments that took place in the past, present, and future and none of it was hard to follow. Ladies and gentlemen, in one of the few times ever in cinema or even genre related items, time travel was handled correctly! The angel choirs were singing, fireworks were exploding in the air, and lil' Timmy regained a hope. I am completely on board for this season, and excited to see where it is heading.

Hulk and Final Crisis

As you can see, I have removed Hulk from my pull list. Many factors went in to this decision. I have not hidden my distaste for Jeph Loeb's "writing" style. The Little Engine That Couldwas more complex than this garbage. Plus, Marvel is raising the price on Hulk! That's like charging rent to prison inmates. So I have decided to make an escape. I won't be coming back to serve the rest of my sentence til Loeb is no longer on the title. R.I.P. Hulk, we hardly knew ye.

Speaking of R.I.P.....I picked up Final Crisis #6 today. Okay first off, Grant Morrison should never be allowed to write comic books again! Unless he goes to work for Marvel. Second off, other than the Supergirl vs Mary Marvel (which Morrison had been hyping up), can anyone tell me if I missed something in the solict.

Written by Grant Morrison; Art and covers by J.G. Jones and Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino
As the entire world turns against them, the last of Earth's Super Heroes must face the unstoppable power of the Gods of Apokolips for the final time. Supergirl vs. Mary Marvel! Superman vs. Darkseid! The fate of the Flash! And the incredible return of the New Gods! The End of Days has come and the ultimate war between good and evil will at last be decided on the battlefield of a broken world!

And as the skies bleed, as the walls between universes crumble and fall, the ultimate threat to life makes its presence felt as an evil beyond imagining arrives to claim its prize. Mandrakk the Dark Monitor is coming and the DC Multiverse will never be the same again!

NONE OF THIS HAPPEND! Good-freakin-gravy! Is there a game plan, or does Morrison change his mind as he goes along? I've speculated that he changed the end of R.I.P., but this takes the cake. I understand and respect throwing out red herrings to the fans to let them ponder over. Speculation is a fun part of comics. These aren't red herrings though, he is flat out lying! Have some respect for the people that help pay your bills.

Wanted

I didn't get a chance to see Wanted when it came out this summer. Mainly due to the fact that I was spending most of my money on multiple views of The Dark Knight. I had never read the comic that the movie is based on even though I am a fan of Mark Millar. His run on Spider-Man was amazing, spectacular, and sensational. Civil War got me excited about the Marvel Universe, plus Captain America was a total BAMF in that story. So I guess you could say that I wanted to see this. Yeah I know, that one even hurt me. Deal with it.

It arrived in my netflix today after a very long waiting time. Wanted is about a group of assassins that formed 1,000 years ago called The Fraternity. They receive assignments through hidden codes inside tapestries. Binary code mind you. Targets are decided by fate, therefore the assassins do not question whether this person deserves to live or die. Wesley, an accountant, is recruited in to The Fraternity when his estranged father, who was also a Fraternity member, is apparently killed by a rogue assassin. Wesley is then trained to become the perfect assassin and take out his father's killer. Wackiness and hi jinks ensue.

I am going to give this movie a sandwich review. For those that are unfamiliar with the term it is when you start and end with a positive but the middle is negative.

Positive: The special fx were awesome! Everything from the car flips and chases to the bullets curving and smashing in to each other. It felt very Matrixie, but at the same time unique enough to be its own thing.

Negative: What the piss? Was this seriously based on something Mark Millar wrote? Good gravy this was awful! The main character, Wesley, not only embraces his father's profession, but passionately wants to avenge his death. This is for a man that he hasn't seen since he was seven days old! Not only that, but in a span of six weeks Wesley is trained to be one of the top assassins. Really? It only takes six weeks? I'm going to school for communications right now. I'm told the total time until I receive my B.A. is roughly four years. I guess if I took a specific vocation such as assassination, I could be on my way to a high paying career in as little as six weeks. My favorite part of the movie was when Wesley was chasing his father's killer on a crowded train only for the train to derail as it is going over a bridge. Here's where it gets tricky. Train cars are falling down the canyon and apparently all the passengers escaped somehow. I came to this conclusion because no one was in any of the cars except Wesley, the killer, and Angelina Jolie! Ridiculous! There were some twists and turns that happened, but I won't spoil that here. I honestly don't think I would even pick this up on Free Comic Book Day.

Positive: uh....let's see....I already mentioned the special fx....um...Angelina Jolie is nice to look at.

R.I.P.

Happy New Year! How is everyone’s year going so far? I just discovered Apple Chai over at Starbucks so I love life right now. Recently, a friend of mine asked about my thoughts on the whole Batman R.I.P. storyline. So, let’s have the first post of 2009 be about Batman.

You either love Grant Morrison or you don’t, there does not seem to be any in between with this guy. To be honest, R.I.P. was extremely hard for me to read on a monthly basis. The deliver schedule was out of whack, and each issue only gave you bits and pieces of the whole story, sort of like Final Crisis. The day before I got the final chapter of R.I.P. I decided to sit down and read the first five parts all the way through. What a difference that made! Monthly comics do not do Morrison’s work justice. This man definitely writes comics like you’re reading the whole story in one sitting. However, I’m pretty sure that he changed the ending of this story at the last minute, because I remember him promising some big reveal in R.I.P. that didn’t seem to happen. Instead this is what we got.

Dr. Hurt: “I’m really your father.”

Batman: “No, you’re not.”

Dr. Hurt: “You’re right, but I had to try to fool you one more time.”

Really? That’s what you were planning from the beginning? That Dr. Hurt wasn’t really Thomas Wayne? You know who else isn’t Thomas Wayne? Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, Robin, Lois Lane, my downstairs neighbor, and I’m willing to bet most of the characters in the DCU. The story possibilities are endless. Not only is Dr. Hurt not Thomas Wayne, but the final confrontation between Hurt and Batman ends in a helicopter explosion. Going back to basics, Grant? I know that you’re a better writer than this. We learn that Batman survives the explosion and that R.I.P takes place right before Final Crisis, which is where we’ll learn the true fate of Batman. So what was the point of R.I.P.? He didn’t die in R.I.P., he didn’t retire in R.I.P. Nope, he fought and beat a bad guy, went back to the Batcave, and then went on his next mission helping the Justice League. Does it stand for Reading Is Pointless?

Anyway, as of this month Bruce Wayne is no longer Batman. I have mixed feelings about this. Bruce Wayne is my favorite character of all time. He IS Batman. Anybody else would just be someone wearing a Batman costume. So this sucks for me, but at the same time I love forward movement in comics. The only problem with that is that eventually the forward movement gets reversed. Hal Jordan was brought back. Barry Allen was just brought back.

*Side note* that one irks me more than anything. Did everybody forget that Barry had the personality of a gnat? Or that The Flash was actually cancelled way before his death in the first Crisis? People long for what they had as a child and moan and groan, “Barry Allen was the greatest Flash ever.” That’s crap! It was been proven time and time again that Wally West is the greatest Flash ever.

So this whole Battle For The Cowl thing seems like it could be pretty cool. It better be since they cancelled Robin, Nightwing, and Birds of Prey. Not sure why BoP was cancelled since I can’t see Oracle being too convincing as Batman. It appears that Nightwing is being groomed for the position. It would seem fitting that the hero’s first sidekick would come back and take on the mantle of his mentor after his mentor’s “death”. I have the strangest feeling that I’ve already read this somewhere else though. I do think it’s a marvelous idea though. *shifty eyes*

All in all, this should be a fun ride. My expectations are really high, and that can be a really bad thing with comics: Secret Invasion anyone?